Spurs are Clutching at Straws

This season has been one that has epitomized the classic Tottenham way. Always unpredictable, sometimes full of swagger and sometimes downright awful. It's been captivating all the way- just not always for the right reasons. It's not over yet though, whatever happens in the next 5 league games will decide the destiny of the club.

Champions League is everything. Whether the likes of Modric, Bale and Adebayor and even Harry Redknapp stay or leave depends on it. With it, Spurs are a club with almost infinite potential. A massive fan-base, an ambitious chairman and a world class squad. Everything will be looking rosy again. Players of the calibre of Eden Hazard or Leandro Damiao could find themselves in a Spurs shirt as long as we can promise them Champions League football. Mourinho might even come a'knocking.

And just look what happened last time the club was in the competition. Quarter-finals. Tottenham's attacking, swashbuckling style is a perfect fit with the Champions League. Now the fans have had the taste of it they're hungry for more. (There's only so many times you can watch the same YouTube videos.)

Without it, the club risks free-falling to where it was before 'Arry came along. Mid-table mediocrity with the odd lapse into the relegation places or with the odd surge into 5th. Barcelona will want Bale. Madrid will want Modric. Chelsea will want Walker. Adebayor will want too much money. England will (probably) want Redknapp.

Levy will try to keep them and maybe he'll even succeed. But there's only so many players you can keep who don't want to be there, especially if the manager jumps ship. What's more is that the club won't be able to keep building on what it has. The wage structure is such that without the lure of Champions League the club simply won't be able to attract the big names. The club WILL go backwards and with the amount of competition for 4th place, it could end up ruining any future challenge for 4th.

Image of Spurs' 2012/13 shirt have recently been surfacing in various internet forums

(Read this next part to yourself in a Morgan Freeman voice or with this song in the background.)

Okay, now for the partisanship. Come on you Spurs. The destiny of the club is going to be decided in the next 5 league games. 5 unbelievably massive games. 5 games that we simply HAVE to win. We're lucky that is still in our hands, that Chelsea slipped up at Fulham, but it has happened. So we have to grasp the opportunity with two hands and play like our lives depend on it.

The fixture list is kinder to us that it is to any of the other clubs competing for 3rd and 4th. But as the cliché goes, there are no easy games at this point in the season. QPR, Bolton, Blackburn, Villa and then finally Fulham. 15 points please. The first 4 of those clubs are in a relegation dog-fight. They will be fighting like their lives depend on it. We have to fight harder. We have to want it more. We have to show our quality. Our last fixture is one that is riddled with irony. Just a few years ago it was Martin Jol trying to steer Tottenham into the Champions League- he narrowly missed out. Now it is his job to stop us. Please, if there's a God, let us have qualified by then, he's one of the most likeable guys in football. I don't want a result to change that.

This is it. This is the time that defines players. An F.A Cup would be nice but 4th place is the priority, that can't be forgotten. We either fight or we crumble. Let's fight. Forget the form book. It's possible if we want it to be.